And Now a Word from Our Sponsor: Radio Commercials for Listening Comprehension in German

Abstract

The use of radio material such as Horspiele for foreign language study is not new, but it has largely been limited to students at the advanced level. Little is available to students in elementary courses. Spiel und Sprache was the first elementary reader with widespread appeal that recognized similarities between the structure of everyday language and literary language. Likewise, the use of printed advertisements and realia, as in So ist es, is not completely new.2 The final step toward authentic aural work, providing first year students with everyday spoken language for listening comprehension, is missing in commercially produced materials. The dialogues in most textbooks are constructed to fit into a linear pattern of language acquisition, while the comprehension approach, which has received attention in recent years, is based on nonlinear patterns that closely parallel everyday speech. At any point in a traditional linear approach, the available vocabulary is restricted to words and expressions which have been introduced in previous chapters. When true comprehension is the goal, students must be helped to master authentic use of vocabulary and structure: In order to understand the spoken language at an effective level, it is absolutely essential for one to be trained to listen at that level. This means spending a lot of time listening to what native speakers listen to.3 If one accepts the concept of listening to authentic material at a very early stage of language learning, the question is: What authentic material can be used for listening comprehension? We know that literary material, radio news (unless it is on a topic already very familiar to the students), and interviews are not best suited for elementary classes. The one type of material with a great deal of variety, which is still accessible to elementary language learners, is the commercial. Using radio commercials as supplementary materials in ESL classes proved the effectiveness of the approach.4 The limited length of the message, its redundancy, its correspondence to everyday language, and its cultural message create an impact. After all, media experts structure the wording. Commercials are not controlled language sequences made by language teachers. Radio communication means to get points across in phrases that the listener will remember. All this has to happen in a very short, fixed amount of time: therefore radio messages have to be as memorable as possible even to the point of being obnoxious.5 If we ask our students what product they can identify with a certain jingle or slogan-even some of the older ones-such as: I'd walk a mile for a .. ., Things go better with .. ., You deserve a break today at. .. .6